It is known to have a hood latch assembly including a primary latch which may be released from the interior of the vehicle as desired and a secondary or safety latch which holds the hood in a partially open position after the primary latch is released.
It is also known to provide a handle under the hood for operating the secondary latch to allow full opening of the hood. The hood is biased upwardly when the primary latch is released, thereby leaving a small gap or opening into which a person may extend their hand to grasp the handle and operate the secondary latch. The location of this handle for the secondary latch is not the same from model to model due to differences in design and may be difficult to reach. It is known to provide a release lever on the secondary latch such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,966,244, where the release lever is presented upon unlatching of the primary latch. Such a release lever is pivotally mounted to the secondary latch such that when the hood is partially raised, the lever is projected straight out through the radiator grill toward the operator, however, the release lever is biased to a retracted position both when the hood is open and closed. Therefore, the release lever will move straight out towards an operator as the operator is closing the hood.
It would be desirable to provide a secondary hood latch handle which is integral with a cam surface which, when the closure panel is raised from the closed position to a secondary latch position, the cam surface presents a latch handle.